After a decidedly slanted report about two Ugandan men charged with “aggravated homosexuality” in their home country, CNN found itself the recipient of a “community note” on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
CNN’s post had said simply, “Two men in Uganda are facing separate charges of ‘aggravated homosexuality,’ an offense punishable by death under the country’s controversial new anti-gay laws.”
The actual headline on CNN.com provided even less information: “Two Ugandan men may face death penalty after ‘aggravated homosexuality’ charge.”
The community note function on X is an open-source solution to provide context or fact-checking to posts on the platform. The moderators of X’s community notes agreed with X users that the post left out some key information.
“One man is accused of having a sexual relation with a disabled man, the other of a sexual act with 12 year-old child,” the added community note explained. “Both are charged with ‘aggravated homosexuality,’ defined as same-sex relations with someone who is HIV-positive, a child, an elderly person or disabled.”
Two men in Uganda are facing separate charges of “aggravated homosexuality,” an offense punishable by death under the country’s controversial new anti-gay laws https://t.co/vwNet7XDuJ
— CNN (@CNN) August 29, 2023
Whereas CNN apparently believed that the “death penalty” aspect of the “controversial” new law was the key point in the story, readers felt that the actual crimes committed were vital to understand the story correctly.
One of the men, 20, is accused of performing “unlawful sexual intercourse with one [man] aged 41 with a disability,” according to a spokeswoman for the office of the Director of Prosecutions cited by CNN.
The other suspect is accused of “a sexual act with a child aged 12 of the same sex,” the same spokeswoman told CNN. That fact, however, doesn’t appear until more than halfway through CNN’s article.
The new law has prohibited same-sex marriage and sexual acts since being enacted in May, but an attorney representing one of the accused claimed the law violated Uganda’s constitution.
“Of course the fact that the law is being enforced in this way is entirely unconstitutional because it seeks to criminalize what is often consensual conduct between adults,” CNN quoted her as saying.
CNN quoted no one with a different opinion, stating only: “The bill enjoys substantial support from lawmakers, Christian and Muslim leaders in Uganda and some social media commentators.”
X users seemed overwhelmingly to agree with the spirit of the community note more than the original post from CNN.
This misleading headline should be illegal pic.twitter.com/GoEN883YMS
— Ken Theroux (@KenTheroux) August 29, 2023
So you’re cool with child rape? pic.twitter.com/lbYbXEM3Og
— Julie H Wright
? (@juliew38138) August 30, 2023
Maybe you should’ve mentioned one raped a disabled man and one raped a child in your headline. Why’d you leave that out?
— Derrik Behler (BEE-Ler) (@DPGBehler) August 29, 2023
“raping a 12 year old boy” is controversial?
Delete your account.
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) August 30, 2023
Both suspects are in custody and expected to make their first court appearances in September, CNN reported.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
